Bailey places 29th in Finland sprint

March 14, 2014

Lowell Bailey of Lake Placid was the top American finisher Thursday in the 10-kilometer sprint race of the World Cup biathlon event in Kontiolahti, Finland. He finished 29th with a time of 25 minutes, 2.3 seconds and two penalties.

Tim Burke of Paul Smiths wasn't far behind with his 35th-place finish in 25:05.5 and one miss.

Johannes Thingnes Boe of Norway won the event with clean shooting and a time of 23:33.2. World Cup leader Martin fourcade of France was second in 23:40.3 and Arnd Peiffer of Germany finished third in 23:40.4.

Hannah Dreissingacker of Morrisville, Vt. was the top U.S. woman with a 28th-place finish in the 7.5k sprint race. It was the best World Cup finish of her career.

"I'm psyched about (the) race, especially the shooting, since I have been joking that I have a curse when it comes to shooting badly in sprint races," Dreissigacker said. "Keeping a good focus for the shooting was my biggest goal for (the) race, and I think that went well. I'm really happy to have finally scored my first World Cup points. I've known that I could do it for quite a while, but it just kept not coming together."

Annelies Cook of Saranac Lake covered the course in 24:22.1 with five penalties to place 75th. Susan Dunklee of Barton, Vt. placed 29th in 22:15.2 and four misses.

Kaisa Makarainen of Finland won the women's race in 20:36.3 and one miss. Olga Zaitseva of Russia was second in 20:42.4 and Mari Laukkanen of Finland was third in 20:59.

Biathlon World Cup racing continues today with the second of two sprint races.